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The increasing cost of Thanksgiving dinner

In 2021, the average cost was $53.31. It was a 14% increase compared to 2020.

NORFOLK, Va. — Every year the American Farm Bureau Federation prices out what Thanksgiving dinner is going to cost families in the U.S.

The criteria: the price of a 16-pound turkey, stuffing, potatoes, dinner rolls, cranberries, and pumpkin pie for a group of 10.

In 2021, the average cost was $53.31. It was a 14% increase compared to 2020.

But we wanted to go back even further…nearly 40 years to 1985.

At the time, the same Farm Bureau statistics priced a holiday meal for 10 at about $22. But that’s not adjusted for inflation. The price today would be around $43.78, which is less expensive than the same holiday spread in 2021.

But the following year in 1986, people were dealing with a similar surge in food prices we are seeing today.

The cost jumped to nearly $29 for a Thanksgiving meal in 1986, or $56.15 today. That's a 28% increase.

The American Farm Bureau Federation hasn’t released its annual estimate for 2022 just yet, but some economists are predicting another double-digit jump of about 13%.

That would put the estimated price above the inflation-adjusted surge in 1986, costing families $60.25 for Thanksgiving dinner in 2022.

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